Networks & Systems — Story of water
Bodies of water around us are often looked at in isolation, when was the last time you looked at any lake or water body in your neighbourhood and wondered, where does the water come from, who uses the water? are there other bodies of water linked to this one? Who does it affect? How do people associate themselves with it?
The are 2 types of networks & link associated water bodies
Physical Network
The manifestation of flow of water is facilitated through the knowledge of geography, geology, topography and the observation of ephemeral natural channels. The flow also occurs through human-made channels like canals and aqueducts.
Links between people and the environment
This network of relationships comprises people with settlements as well as the environment. The immediacy of the settlements to the lake, the daily requirements enhance the natural relations between them. Architecture is made by humans and designed to cater to humans. The architecture in and around water are responsible for collecting and distributing these said relationships between human and waterbodies, hence design and architecture play a key role in fostering a structure of relationships called spatial ecology.
Networks between the scales
Spatial ecology comprises of spatial components like the different water bodies at different scales and connects them through human-made channels creating a network.
Introducing the term spatial ecology helps us connect the spatial elements made for water bodies as a network of connections and relations rather than in isolation.
Symbolic Networks
Water has often been looked at as a symbol for a purifier for the spirit, to the current industrial times where water was used as a cleansing agent to wash away body odour, to where now pollution of water created can be purified by the water itself.
